Frasers launches €1.98bn takeover bid for Hugo Boss

Mike Ashley’s retail group, Frasers, has launched a near-€2bn takeover offer for the German luxury fashion brand Hugo Boss.

The fashion and sportswear group, which owns 26% of Hugo Boss, said it is offering to pay about €1.98bn (£1.73bn) for the remainder of the business to take full control.

The offer would mean Frasers – which also owns Sports Direct – paying €38 a share to investors in the fashion company. Shares in Hugo Boss were worth €36.44 at the close of trading on Wednesday.

The bid follows speculation in recent years that Frasers could seek a takeover of the brand, having steadily built up its stake since first investing in Hugo Boss in 2020.

Frasers’ chief executive, Michael Murray, who took over the day-to-day running of the group from Ashley in 2022, is a member of Hugo Boss’s supervisory board as a result of its shareholding.

Late last year, Frasers said its bottom line was boosted by a big increase in the value of its investment in Hugo Boss, which was founded in 1924 and is traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange.

Bosses at Frasers said Murray “did not participate in the board’s discussion of, or decision to make, the offer”. The offer is now expected to go to a shareholder vote.

The UK retail company, which has a current market value of £3.45bn, said it would hope to complete the deal in the second half of this year if it is approved and receives regulatory approvals.

If successful, the takeover would add Hugo Boss to a group that already owns the Frasers department stores, formerly House of Fraser, the fashion chain Flannels and the bicycle retailer Evans Cycles.

Ashley retains a 73% stake in the group he built from a single sports store in Maidenhead, Berkshire, opened in 1982 with £10,000 from his parents.

He left school at 16 with no qualifications to become a professional squash player, which did not work out because of injury. His wealth swelled by £317m to £3.44bn last year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List, released last month.

In a statement, Frasers said: “Hugo Boss is a key brand partner for Frasers, and one of the top five brands across the Frasers Group.

“Frasers is a long-term investor in Hugo Boss and remains supportive of both Stephan Sturm, the chair of the supervisory board, and Daniel Grieder, chief executive, in pursuit of their sustainable growth strategy while continuing to build brand equity.

“Frasers’ board of directors believes that increasing Frasers’ investment in Hugo Boss will create value for Frasers’ shareholders.”